Project Dragneel
by Aidaedalus
Summary: As a psychology major, Lucy never expected her final project to be to counsel the screwed up womaniser Natsu Dragneel. But, unfortunately, it was, and she was in for some shit.
1. Chapter 1

And I give life to yet another fanfiction, I can't help myself it seems. If anyone is curious about how this one was conceived then leave a question in a review or something, I'd gladly spout out the events prior to its birth. Even if no one is curious, still leave a review, I'd really appreciate it. Enjoy.

Does anyone think that Hiro Mashima has enough time to waste on some fanfic when he owns the real thing? Just asking.

* * *

As a psychology major, Lucy never expected her final project to be to counsel the screwed up womaniser Natsu Dragneel. But, unfortunately, it was, and she was in for some shit.

* * *

The door squealed in protest as it was roughly opened from the outside, filtering in some of the light from the hallway, then shut, and taking with the fatal slam Lucy's only hope for escape.

She rearranged the books on the desk in her assigned office for the hundredth time for the hour to mask her climbing anxiety as the object of her distress sauntered into the small room like he owned the place, magenta hair flopping onto his forehead. His jade eyes lazily scanned the room then dropped onto her, sparking as if measuring her worth then drifting away as if the result wasn't much.

Lucy almost frowned but quickly regained her composure and plastered an obviously fake smile onto her face, hoping that her cheeks weren't twitching as much as it felt like they were.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Dragneel," she started in the professional voice she spent hours trying to master, not that it worked since she heard the blatant croak of nervousness in it.

The man quirked an eyebrow, lips twitching in amusement.

"Please have a seat," Lucy continued, letting her irritation seep into her tone this time. She took a calming breath.

The man plopped into the offered chair then slouched casually.

"I'm Lucy Heartfilia, and I've been assigned the task of offering you...help as the Internal Assessment for my degree in psychology. Do you know why you were chosen, Mr. Dragneel?" Lucy asked, shifting in her seat to cross her arms. She frowned; her body language was clearly screaming defensive while his was just relaxed, why the hell was she reacting like this?

He ignored the question letting his eyes drag across Lucy's body once again, but this time pausing at and ogling her very full rack, and then meeting her wary mocha eyes. He leaned forward; Lucy instinctively pressed herself more into the chair even with the table as a barrier between them. The man laughed.

"Don't worry Doc, I'll be a good boy," he said. "Besides, you're not my type, you're too polite," he muttered, nose wrinkling in distaste.

Lucy flushed, "Mr. Dragneel, I'd appreciate it if you could control yourself."

His lips pursed slightly as he melted back into his seat.

"Natsu," he said, "I don't like this Mr. Dragneel thing. It's too damn formal for me. Just call me Natsu."

"Mr. Dragneel, it's not appropriate for me to address you by your first name. It is a breach of my professional ethics," Lucy replied immediately, feeling as if she gained an upper hand, a smug look crossing her face.

"Well I hope you don't mind if I call you Luce, eh Doc, cause you're gonna have to get used to it," he drawled devilishly, smirking at Lucy's miffed expression.

"Whatever makes you happy," she replied stiffly, "But please don't refer to me as Doc, I'm not qualified."

"But calling you Doc makes me happy," Natsu replied with mock innocence.

Lucy gritted her teeth in annoyance.

"Anyway," she continued, barely suppressing her rising temper, "We'll need to start off on some sort of common ground."

Natsu looked away, bored, "Don't mean to disappoint ya Luce, but I don't think that that's possible."

Lucy sighed, "Do you want to be helped?"

"I don't _need _help," Natsu snarled, suddenly angry, "I'm only here since they threatened my graduating position. I'm making it my goal to give you as much stress as possible."

Lucy blinked in surprise.

"Well, Mr. Dragneel, I appreciate the honesty, at least we got somewhere."

Natsu stared at her, dumbfounded.

"I tell you that I wanna make your life hell and _that's_ what sticks?! I really don't understand what's going on in that head of yours."

Lucy politely chose to ignore that comment.

"Firstly Mr. Dragneel, I need you to acknowledge that you need help before we can move forward with this, otherwise it will be waste of time," she murmured while shuffling through her files containing Natsu's information and copies of the files of the other women he supposedly messed up.

"Were you even listening to what I was saying?!" Natsu demanded, "I don't need help. This thing is just a bloody waste of time."

Lucy glared up at him, "Look at me, Dragneel, I don't want to be here as much as you do, but I need to do this if I wanna graduate with honours, so even if you don't want to be here, you should at least care about another human being enough to stop this selfish and childish behaviour, you understand me. And stop spouting this nonsense about how you don't need help; there must be reason behind your destructive behaviour in all of your relationships. People don't just wake up one day and decide to wreak havoc on their love life like some sort of stupid maniac."

Natsu watched the irritated woman in mild surprise, "Wow Luce, you sure do talk a lot when you're pissed off. How does your man handle that shit?" he drawled, amused at the immediate dust of blush across her full cheeks.

Lucy was about to retort but the man abruptly stood up.

"Well would you look at the time, it seems that our hour is up, eh Doc, see ya."

With that Natsu strolled out of the room with a short, casual wave. Lucy scowled for a few minutes at the closed door, before sighing in defeat.

_That guy is a piece of work, _Lucy thought, closing her eyes tiredly while reaching up to massage her temples at the telltale throb of an approaching headache. She stayed in the silent room, the only sound coming from the consistent and monotonous tick of the clock from its perch on the quaint cream coloured wall.

_Give me patience_, Lucy sent a silent plea then left, hoping that it was granted.

* * *

"How was the first session in Project Dragneel?" the small woman nestled in Lucy's bed asked as she munched on a bowl of cherries.

Lucy blanched, remembering what occurred over the course of the prescribed hour.

"It was that bad huh," the other woman laughed after observing Lucy's expression while rolling onto her stomach, absentmindedly poking Lucy's pet Plue that looked like a freaked up cross between a bald, wingless duck and a dog without a tail.

"That's an understatement. You're so damn lucky you only have to do some community work; I don't know why I chose to major in psych where I have to fix some messed up people, I obviously didn't think that decision through, maybe I should've just listened to daddy and do business. I seriously can't handle Dragneel at all. He's so pompous and full of himself acting like he calls all the shots or something," Lucy whined from her seat on the carpeted floors where she was filing her fingernails.

"I'm lucky?!" the woman exclaimed, shooting upright and frightening away Plue, "I'm stuck with Gajeel Redfox, I don't like him at all and my project is to work with him to catalogue and translate some rare manuscript he stumbled upon in his garage and see if he has more artefacts to find in the junk heap of the house he inherited from his father. He's so damn controlling and annoying, treating me like I'm some sort of child and calling me a shrimp!"

Lucy snickered at her friend's misfortune then looked up at her with a sympathetic smile, understanding her frustration, "Well you and me both have to put up with idiots, eh Levy. But we're gonna work through this, though so let's not stress out too much."

"You're too optimistic," Levy groaned, tossing one of the trough pillows on the bed at Lucy who easily dodged it with a playful smile.

"Pillow fight!" she declared then proceeded to wage war with her friend, cherries rolling on the bed and file dropping onto the floors, both forgotten amidst the cheerful giggles.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to everyone who supported this fic, it is really appreciated!

And I do know that Natsu is being really nasty personality wise but that is all necessary. Enjoy!

* * *

Natsu whistled in approval as he stepped into one of the private offices of the house of the Heartfilias allotted to Lucy by her father after she begged him, "Nice place you got here, much better than that ugly little room from last week."

Lucy crossed her legs.

_The nerve of this uncouth man_, she thought, but merely motioned for him to sit in the chair opposite to her.

She had decided after spending the majority of her thinking time trying to devise the best approach to Project Dragneel that the only way to get Natsu to open up would be to make him comfortable, if that wasn't already obvious. So she grudgingly arranged for their sessions to be held at her home to make them seem less formal.

"Good afternoon to you too, Mr. Dragneel," she said, smiling brightly.

Natsu threw himself onto the handcrafted sofa she had gestured to before with absolutely no decorum, slinging his legs over the arm of the burgundy, vintage and _extremely _expensive furniture carelessly.

Lucy sighed, clasping her hands loosely, hoping that her irritation was perfectly masked.

"So that's why you're so polite, your family is loaded," Natsu murmured as his eyes searched the ceiling for whatever it was that he was looking for.

Lucy cleared her throat; the topic of her parents' wealth never really went down well with her.

"Anyway," she started in a saccharine-like voice, "How are things going with you in uni? I mean, what are your friends like, what do you like? These files are way too shallow for me if I really want to help you, and I do," she said, reciting the introduction she had perfected the night before with the help of Levy.

Natsu straightened in his seat, eyes narrowed and staring, suspicious.

"For some reason I find that really hard to believe, cause as far as I remember, weren't you the one that said that you need this to graduate with honours? And I'm sure that a rich girl like you would never want to disappoint mommy and daddy now would you?"

_Damn! He's supposed to be an idiot and blindly agree._

Lucy stiffened. He was spot on, not that she would admit it, but she found herself disliking him all the more now.

"I have a much more realistic proposal than that charade of compassion you want to pull off," Natsu continued seriously, interlocking his fingers to form a steeple, "How about we do nothing, and you write a detailed report about how emotional I was, and that everything was fixed. You get a pat on the back, I get left to myself, and it's a win-win for both of us."

"Do **not** insult me Dragneel," Lucy snapped, voice strained, "I have no intention of giving up this opportunity for practical work like some sort of spineless fool just because you're going to be a tough nut to crack, so the way I see things, either you work with me willingly, or you don't graduate. You make the choice, you need me; I don't need you."

Lucy met his hard, jade eyes unwaveringly even though she was trembling on the inside, silently thanking her father for teaching her how to hide her weaknesses since she was a child as the heir to the Heartfilia corp.

Natsu frowned, he was sure he said it threateningly, why was this delicate little rich girl acting all big and bad? But more importantly…

"You being so authoritative is a huge turn on," he said plainly, slouching casually once again, "Much better than the nice girl act."

Lucy blushed, caramel eyes widening.

"Well, since you give me no choice," Natsu said, sighing extravagnantly, "I guess my idea is outta the question."

"I'm glad you know," she replied haughtily, barely smothering her gleeful smirk.

_Lucy, 1; Dragneel, 0, _she thought_._

The man opposite to her rubbed his chin thoughtfully, liking his 'therapist' more now that she pulled a devious stunt like that, watching her as she got up to retrieve something from a maid.

"I have another suggestion," Natsu spoke up after Lucy had returned with a tray of tea and biscuits, absentmindedly reaching for the food as soon as it was placed on the coffee table in front of him, oblivious to Lucy's disapproving scowl.

"How about you meet my friends?" he asked when Lucy settled back down into her seat.

She blinked in surprise. He was actually trying to cooperate.

"Really?" she asked enthusiastically, a delighted smile working its way onto her face, "That would be great! I could see analyse your behaviour in your natural habitat!"

"Hey!" Natsu protested, "Don't make it sound like I'm some sort of animal."

"When?!"

Natsu tilted his lips upward a little at her childish reaction, features lightening slightly at the lively sparkle in her eyes and the infectious laugh bubbling out of her lips, allowing his nostalgia to surge for a moment.

"How about tonight?!" he asked.

Lucy frowned, guard back up immediately.

"Why at night?" she asked suspiciously. Being the heir of one of the most lucrative companies on the world had left her target to kidnapping and ransom more than a few times in her life.

He gave her a deadpanned look.

"I'm a womanising delinquent, right? Doesn't the night life fit the description too?"

Lucy nodded in all seriousness, "Honesty is good."

Natsu laughed, this girl was too trusting.

"Alright," she acquiesced, "Tonight it is. Where?"

"Don't worry, I'll pick you up."

Lucy eyed him, torn with indecision before nodding her assent.

Natsu smirked; _As if I'm letting you take control just like that_.

* * *

"What!" Levy exclaimed as she pace Lucy's room, tugging at her messy blue curls in frustration.

After Lucy had told her that she was going to meet Dragneel's friends tonight, the small woman immediately found herself in the Heartfilia's house, infuriated.

"How could you just say yes like that? What if he kidnaps you or something! Don't you remember all the attempts at your life?"

Lucy sighed.

"I know what I'm doing is risky Levy, but if I don't he will never open up to me."

"I don't care about the stupid project Lucy, I care about you!" Levy shouted, "You're my best friend in the world, I'm not gonna let some ass just ruin you."

"Nothing is gonna happen," Lucy protested, accustomed to Levy's explosive temper when it came down to serious things, "I have my pepper spray, I have GPS in my phone, and I have experience with martial arts. I'm not weak anymore."

Levy scowled.

"Fine, you can go," she said like a reluctant parent, "But I'm coming with you."

Lucy smiled, "Thank you."

"You're still too innocent, Lu," Levy said softly as she sank into the bed, feeling a bit drained after her exertion.

"That's why I need you Lev," she replied, voice equally soft.

"Damn straight you do," Levy joked, smiling at Lucy gently.

Lucy smiled back, petting Plue fondly.

* * *

Okay, so from here there is a fork in the road of the plot of this fic, I can either make it light but full of drama or dark and still full of drama.

Tell me which you'd prefer please.

Thank you!


	3. Chapter 3

I apologise for the late update. I actually had the chapter written before but Fanfiction wasn't uploading and stuff.

So yeah, enjoy!

* * *

Levy tossed Lucy an irritated glance, arms folded tightly against her chest; gnawing on the inside of her lip in self control. Lucy averted her eyes guiltily.

"Sorry Lev," she whispered nervously, her mouth twitching in anxiety.

Levy pursed her lips as if contemplating whether or not to accept Lucy's apology.

"I really didn't think that _your_ Gajeel would be part of Dragneel's friend group."

Levy's frown only deepened, a small reddish hint creeping into her cheeks.

"He's not mine!" she snapped.

"Gihee," the tall, muscled man with long, unruly black hair and an endless amount of metal embedded in his face laughed gleefully as he towered over the much smaller blue-haired woman.

"Yeh just can' keep yerself away from me, eh Shrimp," he said obnoxiously, "I knew tha' yeh had a thing fer me."

"The only _thing_ I'll ever have for you would be a dictionary, you ass, since you can't even pronounce your words like a human," Levy retaliated immediately.

Natsu snickered from his perch on a crate in the old warehouse that the group was occupying.

"I didn't think that the almighty Metal Freak would be dissed by such a little girl," he laughed crudely.

"Who the hell are you calling a little girl, imbecile?" Levy shot at Natsu, effectively shutting him up to Gajeel's dark amusement, her petite body suddenly looking dauntingly huge to all the occupants.

Lucy sighed. When Levy was like this she would lash out on anyone, the best thing to do was to just let her cool off, not that the two men who had fell prey to her vicious responses knew and she certainly wasn't going to enlighten them. A miniscule part of her felt sympathy since she knew how much of an animal Levy could turn into, but the satisfaction in her overrode it; the bastards deserved it for taking so much of Lucy's and Levy's thinking time, not that the thoughts were particularly good since they did involve the most painful methods of castrating men.

Lucy shook her increasingly dark thoughts away while curiously observed her surroundings, droning out Levy's heightened-pitch responses to Gajeel's provoking prods at her shrimp-sized- ness.

The walls were unpainted, except for the distasteful graffiti that spelt out obscenities. The large, cluttered warehouse was lit with cheap torches that emitted wan, yellowish light. Black splotches and rust marks decorated the bare concrete floors and the thick scent of oil constantly infiltrated Lucy's senses. The furniture that was seen among odd car parts was old and looked as if it would collapse if a moth breathed on it. Overall, the room was definitely ghetto, the fitting kingdom for a delinquent to rule from.

She shifted her attention to the other people in the room who just seemed to be enjoying the show that Levy was putting on, unintentionally.

There was a ginger-haired man sitting coolly on the sole couch in the room, arms wrapped around two scantily dressed women. He sent Lucy a flirtatious smile when he noticed that she was looking at him, to which she responded with a nervous wave, inwardly blanching as his eyes practically raped her. She suddenly felt as though her extremely modest t-shirt was a bit too tantalising.

Her eyes were drawn to a man who was absent-mindedly pulling off his shirt from the corner of the room he was occupying, a light blush dusting her cheeks at the view of his sculpted body. She tore her eyes from the almost too much exposure of skin to discover that she was being glared at by one of the other women in the room who was rather overtly hiding behind one of the beams extended from the ceiling.

Lucy gulped cowardly, wondering what she had done to offend the woman, trying to smile politely but paling at the frigid glare she received instead.

"Don't worry, Darlin'," the ginger-haired man said as he extracted himself from his two companions, slinking over to Lucy and draping his arm around her shoulders, ignorant to the rigidity entering her body, "She tends to get possessive over the stripper." He gestured to the man who was now only clad in his boxers.

Lucy frowned in discomfort, trying unsuccessfully to shrug off the arm.

"Relax, Princess," the man laughed, "I'm not like these guys."

Lucy smacked his arm away, finally, not caring about his reaction.

"Don't touch me," she snarled.

"She's feisty eh Loke," Natsu chuckled from where he was watching the entire time.

"Yeah," the man identified as Loke replied, "I like it."

Lucy backed away from the man, turning towards Levy. "I think that we should leave," she said, voice trembling a bit, unwilling memories of the last time she was almost subject to kidnapping raising their ugly heads.

Levy looked to Lucy, pausing in her tirade against Gajeel who had, unfortunately for him, further roused the beast, noticing her friend's desperate want to leave.

The two women started towards the door, Lucy locking eyes with Natsu hoping her disappointment towards him was effectively conveyed in the connection. He smirked.

Then again, who the hell was she kidding? There was no hope in this guy, he was seasoned in whatever shit he had gotten himself into, helping him would be bordering the impossible.

"You're leaving already?" he asked innocently, hopping off the crate and ambling over to them. Lucy stepped back, pulling Levy behind her.

_I'm an idiot! _She thought, _Why didn't I realise that he was only lying? Of course he would pull some stunt like this, he's a delinquent!_

Lucy glared at him while inconspicuously reaching for the pepper spray that was tucked into the waistband of her pants. Her fingers trembled as they closed around the cool, waiting can.

Natsu sneered at Lucy, stopping a few feet away from her, arms crossed over his chest antagonistically.

"Now, Luce, what was this thing that you were telling me earlier on today again? 'I need you?'" He paused. Lucy swallowed, her hand itching to whip out the spray and unleash its fury onto the deceptively calm man.

"I need _no one_," he growled, muscles tensing, "And certainly not some spoiled rich girl who's had everything handed to her on some damn silver platter. Don't you insult me by thinking that I'm just gonna follow your orders like a damned dog. I ain't tame for no woman, and you certainly not gonna break that trend."

Lucy shivered at the absolute malice spilling out of Natsu's voice and echoing in the now silent warehouse, even the two prostitute looking girls had enough sense to be quiet. She swallowed at the small tremors she felt from Levy, immediately drowning in guilt knowing that she was the one that pulled Levy into her mess.

Natsu smirked at her blaring nervousness, his formerly wounded manly pride swelling. He took a step closer, Lucy took one back.

"Stay away," she croaked, internally groaning at how defenceless she sounded. She whipped out the pepper spray from behind her and aimed it with trembling hands at Natsu. His smirk immediately dropped being replaced with something much more serious. His lip curled in disgust as he smacked it away, too quick for Lucy to even process that it was gone.

Her eyes widened in fear.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

Her little experience in martial arts surely couldn't compare to Nastu's bad boy prowess, having earned the title of Salamander due to his deceiving lean frame that hid hard, rippling muscles. Now that her last protective measures were gone, she and Levy were in for some deep shit.

She took another step back, unconsciously bumping into Levy, not that she noticed. Natsu's arms tensed dangerously. She gulped, fumbling against Levy in her panic; Levy still immobile from her overwhelming fear.

"Just chill, Flame Brain," the 'stripper' drawled half-interestedly, posture slouched, however in all his naked glory; he looked like a knight in shining armour to Lucy.

Natsu shifted his attention to the interruption.

"Or what? You gonna fight me?" he sneered.

The 'stripper's' cobalt eyes flashed in rage for a moment before he slid them shut and took a deep breath.

"All I'm saying is," he started in a controlled voice, "She's the heiress of a huge company, her folks won't take nicely to you roughin' her up."

_Yes! Tell him! _Lucy thought desperately, hope a sliver away.

Natsu frowned, rolling the thought around his head, then smiled.

"You're right for once in your life, Ice Princess," Natsu said, "I guess we'll just have to deal with her friend instead, eh Metal Face?"

Lucy felt her heart stop.

_Levy..._


End file.
